by Jayson Tatum might not take the court for the Celtics in the 2025-26 season, but he’s being active for the team off the court.
The Celtics star has been “active” in trying to recruit star point guard Damian Lillard to join the team,
The Boston Globe
‘s Gary Washburn reported
.
It was previously reported that Tatum’s friendship with Lillard could help attract the nine-time All-Star to Boston. Tatum and Lillard played together with Team USA during the 2020 Summer Olympics (which were held in 2021).
More recently, Tatum and Lillard have been tied together due to their Achilles tears. Lillard tore his Achilles in April, doing so a couple of weeks before Tatum tore his right Achilles in April. In late May, Lillard
shared a picture of them together on Instagram
, while Kevin Durant recently revealed
that the two stars reached out to him for advice
on how to rehab the injury.
This also isn’t the first time that Tatum has tried to recruit Lillard to Boston, either. When the Trail Blazers made Lillard available for trade in the 2023 offseason, Tatum
implored Lillard to seek a move to the Celtics
. However, Lillard didn’t want to be traded to the Celtics, which ultimately led to the Trail Blazers moving him to the Bucks later that offseason.
There are some reasons to think that Lillard might change his mind about playing with the Celtics this time around. The soon-to-be 35-year-old Lillard’s status for the 2025-26 season led the Bucks to buy him out of the final two years of his contract. The injury has also caused Lillard’s market to be “limited,” according to Washburn.
Lillard will receive $112 million over the next two seasons as a result of his buyout with the Bucks. So, even though the Celtics are well above the salary cap, it’s reasonable to think that Lillard might not prioritize pay when picking his next destination.
If Lillard does prioritize money, the Celtics could potentially be able to offer more than a pair of other reported suitors. If Boston is able to offload Anfernee Simons’s salary and not take too much money back, it might be able to offer Lillard the taxpayer’s mid-level exception ($5.685 million). If the Warriors, a rumored Lillard suitor, sign Al Horford, they’d likely need to use their mid-level exception in order to do so. The Lakers, another reported Lillard sutior, have already used their mid-level exception this offseason.
Lillard doesn’t need to sign this summer if he is going to miss the majority of the 2025-26 season. In fact, he
isn’t in a rush to make a free-agent decision
as he rehabs his Achilles this offseason and will only sign a deal this summer under the right conditions,
longtime NBA insider Chris Haynes reported
.
As Tatum will likely miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season, the Celtics likely won’t be much of a threat to win the title this upcoming season, especially after their frontcourt took a massive hit. But they should be back in position to make a title run in 2026-27, when Tatum is set to be fully healthy. Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser will still be under contract, bringing back the nucleus of the group that just won a title in 2024.
Lillard, who has only reached the conference finals once in his career, could be enticed by joining a contender. Signing Lillard would also give the Celtics much-needed rotational depth. As of Sunday, White and Pritchard are their only point guards under contract for the 2026-27 season.
Prior to tearing his Achilles, Lillard had another standout season with the Bucks in 2024-25, averaging 24.9 points and 7.1 assists per game in the regular season.
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